Not applicable.
Not applicable.
The present invention is related generally to agricultural implements and more specifically to an improved supporting and locking assembly for securing irregularly shaped particulate hoppers to transport assemblies.
In the past, distribution of seed (or other particulate material such as fertilizer) for use in a variety of agricultural operations has been facilitated via a planter apparatus including a wheel supported carrier frame having a hitch for linking to a tractor or other prime mover, an implement bar mounted to the frame perpendicular to the transport direction and a plurality of row units (e.g., 8 to 32) mounted to and essentially equi-spaced along the length of the implement bar. Among other components, each row unit typically includes some type of seed bin that opens downwardly into a dispenser assembly and some type of soil agitator (e.g., a coulter or knife member) juxtaposed on the transport side of the dispenser. During transport through a field the agitator is forced through soil there below and forms a seed trench. As its label implies, the dispenser dispenses a pre-selected quantity of seed downward and behind the agitator into the trench.
The individual seed bins generally have limited storage capacity. For instance, many row unit seed bins are limited to between one and three bushel volumes. For this reason, these types of planter assemblies required frequent bin refilling. Unfortunately, seed filling stations (e.g., typically a barn or other storage unit) are typically stationary and therefore filling exercises often required a trip out of the fields back to a station and then a trip back to the fields to continue the seeding process. These filling trips increased the overall time required to plant fields. In addition to the round trip time required to refill bins, the refilling process itself was tedious as each separate row unit bin had to be filled during each filling exercise.
In an effort to reduce the number of seed refilling exercises required to seed a field, the industry has developed systems including one or more large seed reservoir hoppers mounted to the carrier frame that are transported along with the row units. In an exemplary system, a main hopper dispenses seed to a plurality of individual mini-hoppers that each, in turn, supply seed to an individual row unit. To this end, the main hopper will typically form an upwardly opening cavity and will form, among other surfaces, bottom cavity surfaces that slope downward toward an outlet port in the bottom of the hopper. The seed may be fed from the main hopper""s outlet port into each mini-hopper by, for instance, entraining the seed in an air stream contained in separate, individual seed transfer hoses that are connected between the main tank and each of the individual mini-hoppers.
When designing agricultural equipment weight should be minimized to increase transport efficiency. In addition, equipment should always be designed to minimize required maintenance. Moreover, the equipment should be designed to facilitate easy configuration set up and deployment. Furthermore, as with virtually all products, manufacturing and product costs should be minimized whenever possible.
One manufacturing process that has been widely accepted for producing general purpose light weight, rugged and relatively inexpensive containers has been the rotational molding process. To form a container using a rotational molding process, the internal surfaces of a multipart metallic mold are coated with an anti-stick spray and then plastic particulate is placed inside a cavity formed by a first part of a multipart metallic mold. Thereafter other parts of the mold are secured to the first part to form a completely enclosed cavity including the particulate where the internal surface of the closed mold defines an external surface of a container to be produced. Next, the mold is heated to melt the particulate and the mold is rotated about several axis to distribute the melted particulate across the entire internal surface of the mold.
After completely covering the internal surface with melted particulate the mold is cooled and, as the mold cools, the particulate hardens to form the container. To expedite the cooling process, hot molds are often placed within cooling rooms where large fans or other types of cooling units blow cool air across the external surfaces of the molds. After cooling, when the mold is opened the container is removed and may be further processed in any of several different ways. For instance, in some cases the container may be cut in half to form a two piece container.
Because rotational molding processes are relatively inexpensive to perform and provide rugged, light weight, minimal component and often complex containers (e.g., hopper containers including variously sloped internal surfaces), rotational molding processes would appear to be nearly ideal for manufacturing main hoppers for use with planter assemblies like the assembly described above.
Unfortunately, in the case of typical rotational molding processes there are several sources or error that render it difficult to meet precise tolerances. In particular, it has been recognized that as molded containers cool, often the containers will shrink or become otherwise somewhat distorted. While shrinkage would not be problematic if the amount of shrinkage were uniform throughout a container and could be controlled, in reality shrinkage is difficult at best to control or predict.
To this end, for instance, differing cooling environments can cause similarly molded containers to have different shrinkage characteristics. For example, where first and second molds are placed in a cooling room with a fan directed at the first mold and another fan only indirectly blowing air toward the second mold, the shrinkage characteristics can be different.
As another instance, while mold rotation is attempted to evenly distribute melted particulate across the internal surfaces of the mold, sometimes distribution is uneven so that one container wall or wall section is thicker than an adjacent wall or section. In these cases, during cooling the container shape can be distorted somewhat as differently thick sections are often characterized by different cooling and shrinking characteristics. Thus, where a stiff container section is proximate a relatively thin container section the thin section may shrink more than the thick section and may be caused to distort or slightly curl about the thicker section.
As one other instance, sometimes the anti-stick spray is not evenly distributed on the internal surfaces of the mold sections so that during cooling some sections of the container may stick to the mold while other sections of the container come unstuck. Again, as in the case where particulate is unevenly distributed, some sections of the container will shrink and distort to a greater degree than other adjacent sections.
While these distortions and different shrinkage characteristics are minimal in the case of small rotational containers, unfortunately the variances become greater as the size of the container is increased. In particular, in the case of agricultural main hoppers like the ones described above where a hopper may be as large as several bushels (e.g., 30-40 bushels), the differing shrinkage and distortion characteristics may amount to as much as several inches of hopper dimension variance. For instance, where a hopper includes front and back walls, the dimension between the external surfaces of the front and back walls may vary within a range of several inches (e.g., 3-4).
One problem with hoppers having dimension variances within several inch ranges is devising a mechanism to secure such hoppers to planter transport equipment such as a wheel supported carrier frame. Generally rigid mechanical solutions for securing the hoppers to a carrier frame do not work as the variable dimensions typically cause mechanical components to misalign. For instance, assume that both the front and back ends of a hopper have to be secured to the carrier frame to provide a completely stable hopper and that the front end is bolted to the carrier frame. In this case the back end may or may not be aligned with apertures for receiving a bolt to secure the back end.
Thus, most workable hopper securing mechanisms have abandoned rigid mechanical solutions and instead have adopted strap or belt type solutions. For instance, in an exemplary belt type solution a hopper is supported in a support cradle that extends up from a carrier frame and two belt assemblies are used to secure the hopper to the support cradle. In this case each belt assembly includes two belt segments that are secured to opposite sides of the cradle with distal ends that extend up and around the top of the main hopper. The distal ends corresponding to the same belt are formed so that they can be secured together and so that the combined lengths of the corresponding belt assembly can be adjusted. Thus, importantly, because the combined lengths of each belt assembly are adjustable many different hopper dimensions can be accommodated and loose manufacturing tolerances can be tolerated.
Despite effectively securing imperfectly formed hoppers to carrier frames the belt type securing mechanisms have several shortcomings. First, such configurations require many components and therefore are relatively expensive. Second, these configurations are generally less robust than other types of rigid mechanical configurations and therefore require additional maintenance. Third, belt configurations are difficult to use. For instance, to strap a single main hopper to a support cradle, the hopper has to be positioned on the cradle, a user has to climb onto the planter assembly to access the top of the hopper, wrap a first end of a first belt around the top of the hopper, wrap a second end of the first belt around the top of the hopper and then fasten the first and second ends. Thereafter the user has to perform these tasks again, this time for the second belt assembly. Continuing, in some cases the user has to further tighten the first belt assembly and then further tighten the second assembly. This process has to be repeated for embodiments including additional hoppers.
Therefore, a need exists for a simple and inexpensive hopper support and lock down mechanism that can accommodate variously and irregularly sized hoppers.
It has been recognized that by providing some simple coupling structure on downwardly sloping external surfaces of a hopper and locking members that engage the coupling structure and that are securable to support members, a simple, inexpensive and extremely easy to use locking and hold down structure can be configured that eliminates the problems discussed above. More specifically, where a hopper includes first and second generally oppositely facing external surfaces that face downward, the external surfaces can be constructed to form passageways that extend along trajectories that are generally parallel with the surfaces and that end at limiting surfaces that at least in part face upward. A hopper configured in this manner can be positioned between first and second substantially parallel and rigid support members that have generally upwardly facing support surfaces such that the external surfaces bear against the support surfaces.
Thereafter, locking members, each including a leg member and an integrally attached engager can be used to effectively lock the hopper to the support members. To this end, each leg member can be forced into a corresponding passageway adjacent the hopper until a distal end of the leg member is at least adjacent a corresponding limiting surface and, in some cases, actually bears downwardly against the limiting surface. The engager can then be secured to an adjacent support member to lock the engager thereto and prohibit vertical movement thereof. In this case, the distal ends restrict vertical hopper movement while the support members restrict lateral hopper movement.
It should be appreciated that the assembly described above is relatively inexpensive. This is particularly true in cases where passageways or recesses are already provided in the external hopper surfaces to add strength to the hopper walls and avoid deformation.
In addition, the assembly above is extremely inexpensive as very few components are required to configure the assembly. Moreover, the assembly is extremely easy to use. To this end, after the hopper is placed on the support members the locking members are simply inserted into corresponding passageways and the engagers are employed to complete the assembly process.
Consistent with the above discussion, the present invention includes a storage apparatus for use with a planting assembly including a first mounting member having first and second horizontally separated ends, the apparatus comprising first and second rigid support members that extend in the same direction from and substantially perpendicular to the first and second ends of the mounting member and that form first and second support surfaces, respectively, a hopper including first and second lower wall members that together define an upwardly facing cavity and form first and second downward and oppositely facing external surfaces, respectively, the external surfaces sloping downward toward a hopper opening along first and second trajectories, respectively, the hopper positioned on the support members such that the first and second external surfaces are received on the first and second support surfaces, respectively, the first external surface forming a first hopper coupler having an engaging length dimension along the first trajectory and a first locking member having a first locking coupler formed to be received by the first hopper coupler at various juxtapositions along the engaging length, the first locking member further including a first engager integrally formed with the first locking coupler and operable to lock the first locking coupler to the first support member.
In some embodiments the second external surface forms a second hopper coupler having a second engaging length dimension along the second trajectory, the apparatus further including a second locking member having a second locking coupler formed to be received by the second hopper coupler at various juxtapositions along the second engaging length, the second locking member further including a second engager integrally formed with the second locking coupler and operable to lock the second coupler to the first support member.
The first hopper coupler may include a first receiving passageway having a first length dimension aligned with the first trajectory and that extends between first and second ends where the second end is proximate a lower edge of the first external surface and is limited by a first limiting surface that at least in part faces upwardly, the second hopper coupler may include a second receiving passageway having a second length dimension aligned with the second trajectory and that extends between first and second ends where the second end of the second passageway is proximate a lower edge of the second external surface and is limited by a second limiting surface that at least in part faces upwardly, each of the locking couplers including a leg member having a distal end received within a corresponding passageway such that the distal end is proximate a corresponding limiting surface. Here, the distal ends of the leg members may abut the limiting surfaces.
In some embodiments each of the engagers includes a shoulder member that extends substantially perpendicularly from the first end of a corresponding leg member to a distal shoulder end, an arm member that extends from the distal shoulder end parallel to and to the same side of the distal end as the leg member to a distal arm end and a finger member extending from the distal arm end toward the leg member such that the leg member, shoulder member, arm member and finger member together define a support receiving space therebetween. Here, the first edges of each of the passageways may each form a lip that extends toward a corresponding opposing second edge of the passageway. In addition, the second edges of each of the passageways may each form a lip that extends toward a corresponding opposing first edge of the passageway.
In some embodiments each of the hopper couplers includes a receiving passageway that has first and second opposing edges that are substantially flush with the corresponding external surface and a basin therebetween, the basin having a basin width dimension and the first and second edges forming a restricted width dimension proximate the external surface where the basin width dimension is greater than the restricted width dimension and wherein each of the locking couplers includes a leg member having first and second leg ends and a leg width dimension that is greater than the restricted width dimension, the second end received within the corresponding basin. In at least one embodiment each of the engagers includes a shoulder member that extends substantially perpendicularly from the first end of a corresponding leg member to a distal shoulder end, an arm member that extends from the distal shoulder end parallel to and to the same side of the distal end as the leg member to a distal arm end and a finger member extending from the distal arm end toward the leg member such that the leg member, shoulder member, arm member and finger member together define a support receiving space therebetween.
The first and second passageways may have similar cross sections along their length dimensions and may be aligned with the first and second trajectories, respectively. In some embodiments the limiting surfaces are vertically below corresponding support members.
The apparatus is also for use with a planting assembly including a second mounting member having first and second horizontally separated ends where the first support member is mounted between the first ends of the first and second mounting members and the second support member is mounted between the second ends of the first and second mounting members.
The invention also includes a storage apparatus for use with a planting assembly including a main frame member, the apparatus comprising first and second mounting members mounted at opposite ends of the main frame member so as to oppose each other, the mounting members each having first and second horizontally separated ends, first and second support members that extend between and substantially perpendicular to the first ends and the second ends of the first and second mounting members, respectively, the first support member forming a first support surface that faces along a first support trajectory having an upward component and a first lateral component facing generally toward the second mounting member and the second support member forming a second support surface that faces along a second support trajectory having an upward component and a second lateral component opposing the first lateral component, a hopper including first and second lower wall members that together define an upwardly facing cavity and form first and second downward and oppositely facing external surfaces, respectively, the external surfaces sloping downward toward a hopper opening along first and second hopper trajectories, respectively, the hopper positioned on the support members such that the first and second external surfaces are received on and bear against the first and second support surfaces, respectively, the first external surface forming a first hopper coupler having a first engaging length dimension along the first trajectory, the second external surface forming a second hopper coupler having a second engaging length dimension along the second trajectory and first and second locking members, the first locking member having a first locking coupler formed to be received by the first hopper coupler at various juxtapositions along the first engaging length, the first locking member further including a first engager integrally formed with the first locking coupler and operable to lock the first locking coupler to the first support member, the second locking member having a second locking coupler formed to be received by the second hopper coupler at various juxtapositions along the second engaging length, the second locking member further including a second engager integrally formed with the second locking coupler and operable to lock the second locking coupler to the second support member.
The invention further includes a method for locking a hopper to first and second separated and substantially parallel support members that form first and second support surfaces, respectively, the hopper including first and second lower wall members that together define an upwardly facing cavity and form first and second downward and oppositely facing external surfaces, respectively, the first and second external surfaces sloping downward toward a hopper opening along first and second hopper trajectories, respectively, the method comprising the steps of providing first and second hopper couplers on the first and second external surfaces, respectively, where the first and second hopper couplers have first and second engaging length dimensions along the first and second trajectories formed to receive locking couplers at various juxtapositions there along, providing first and second locking members, the first locking member having a first locking coupler and a first engager integrally formed with the first locking coupler and operable to lock the first locking coupler to the first support member, the second locking member having a second locking coupler and a second engager integrally formed with the second locking coupler and operable to lock the second locking coupler to the second support member, placing the hopper between the support members with the first and second external surfaces bearing against the first and second support surfaces, attaching the first locking coupler to the first hopper coupler proximate the first support member, attaching the second locking coupler to the second hopper coupler proximate the second support member, securing the first engager to the first support member and securing the second engager to the second support member.